Napa County Biographies
B. F. HOLDEN
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
has been a resident of Napa for seven years. For two years of this time he
purchased wool for the Boston market, and for the same length of time was
book-keeper for the Sawyer Tanning Company and the Norton Tanning Company,
at their San Francisco office, but for the past three years he has been treasurer
and manager of the Napa Woolen Mills. This concern was originally started in a
small way, but in 1885 it was formed into a stock company, of which S. E. Holden
is now president, B. F. Holden, treasurer and manager, and C. R. Gritman, the
cashier of the Bank of Napa, secretary. This company doubled the capacity of
the mill, which now occupies one main structure, 100 feet square, of two stories
and basement, and an adjoining building for the engine and boilers. On the main
floor there are sixteen broad Knowles looms, and the finishing machinery; on the
second floor is located the carding and spinning machinery; while the scouring
and assorting of the wool is carried on in the basement. Two boilers, one of
fifty-horse-power and one of thirty, furnish steam for the engine and for the
necessary process of manufacture. About $150,000 worth of goods, principally
flannels and blankets, is turned out by these mills every year. They employ
about forty hands, use mostly California wool, and manufacture only fine wool
blankets and a fine grade of flannels, used for shirts and suitings. Since Mr.
Holden has assumed the management of the mills they have gradually improved in
their general results, and are now in fairly prosperous condition, and the
outlook is very promising. Their products are mostly disposed of in San
Francisco, through the house of Murphy, Grant & Co., Greenbaum, Weil, Michels &
Co., but they have also been forwarding a considerable quantity to T. A. Shaw &
Co., of Chicago. They also ship goods to Sacramento, Los Angeles and Portland,
Oregon.
Mr. Holden was born in Saxonville, Massachusetts, in 1842. His parents were B.
F. and Harriet (Morse) Holden, both branches of the family being of old New
England stock, whose ancestors emigrated from England in the seventeenth
century. His father moved to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1843, and established a
woolen factory under the firm name of B. F. & D. Holden, which afterward became
the Concord Manufacturing Company, in which B. F. learned the business, and
later acquired an interest that he still continues to hold. He attended the
public schools of Concord, and was a member of the class of 1865 of Wesleyan
University, at Middletown, Connecticut. He was married in 1864 to Miss Minnie
Crockett, of Middletown. Returning to Concord, after leaving the University, he
engaged in the woolen business at Bristol, New Hampshire, where he remained
until 1883, when he came to California. They have two children: Mary
Genevieve, a graduate of the State Normal School at San Jose, and now engaged in
teaching in Napa County; and Clarence, who is attending school at Napa. He is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Holden was a member of the New
Hampshire Legislature, elected from Bristol for the sessions of 1874-�76. In
1887 he invested in the stock of the Napa Woolen Mills, and took charge as
treasurer and superintendent. This position he now holds. During the few years
he has lived in California, Mr. Holden has applied the same active and
intelligent effort to his business that distinguished him in his New Hampshire
home, and as a result the establishment he represents is moving forward
successfully, and building up a very large and successful business.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing
Co., 1891